ST Game #4: Indians Blanked by Padres in Peoria 8-0 to Drop to 2-2 in the Spring

After piling on the runs over the first three games of the spring, the Indians on Wednesday were no match for the San Diego Padres, as they suffered their first shutout of the spring with an 8-0 loss in Peoria to drop to 2-2 in spring training Cactus League play.

For the first three Cactus League games of the spring the one thing that the Cleveland Indians had not had an issue with is scoring runs.

That all came to a screeching halt on Wednesday afternoon in Peoria, Arizona.

The Indians were blanked by seven San Diego Padres pitchers as they fell to 202 on the season following an 8-0 shutout loss.

To put in perspective how good the Indians offense had been the first three games, they had scored a total of 27 runs (nine per game) before Wednesday’s shutout.

Thursday the Tribe will be back in Goodyear for a 3pm EST meeting with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jefry Rodriguez will get his second start of the spring for the Indians against Tony Gonsolin for the Dodgers.

Here’s some tidbits from Wednesday’s shutout effort in Peoria.

At the Plate: After three solid days of offense the Indians mostly backup lineup was no match for the seven Padres pitchers they threw out during the 8-0 beat down.

The only Indian that seemed to have success was center fielder Oscar Mercado, who managed to have two of the Indians four hits.

The other two hits on the afternoon went to sluggers Bobby Bradley and Franmil Reyes, but that was it from an offensive perspective.

Reyes had the team’s only extra base hit (a double), and overall the team missed out on any chances to get runs across, going 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

They also had issues making contact, striking out 10 times and drawing just three free passes in terms of walks.

Half of the team’s 10 K’s were recorded by Bradley Zimmer (three strikeouts) and backup catcher Sandy Leon (two strikeouts).

On the Mound: Adam Plutko who is fighting to stay in the mix as either a fourth or fifth starter or long man in the Indians pen got the start Wednesday, and he was good for his two innings of work.

Plutko threw two scoreless frames, allowing just one hit with no walks and no strikeouts against the Padres.

After Plutko it was Oliver Perez who threw a scoreless third inning, and then Sam Hentges came in for the fourth, and took the loss after allowing a Padres run.

The run was unearned against Hentges due to an error by shortstop Christian Arroyo.

The most impressive outing for the Tribe in terms of on the mound was in the fifth when James Karinchak struck out the side, something that has Indians fans excited about for the season.

San Diego broke the game open with a run in the sixth on a homer by Wil Myers, and then in the seventh they scored four times as reliever Dominic Leone struggled to get outs.

Leone, a former Cardinals pitcher, was beat up for four runs on five hits in one inning of work.

Young righty reliever Robert Broom gave up two runs on three hits in mop up time in the eighth inning to push the San Diego lead to 8-0.

Other Stuff: The Indians lineup was primarily filled with backups and reserves, as Mercado, Jake Bauers and Reyes were the only normal starters for the team in the starting nine.

Indians top prospect Nolan Jones got the start at third for the Tribe, and went 0-for-1 with a walk. The offense left eight men on base in the loss.

San Diego starter Chris Paddack was impressive for the Padres in his two innings of work, allowing a hit but striking out three Indians.

Zimmer had a rough day after going 2-for-3 with a two-run homer on Monday in the Tribe’s 12-8 loss to the Rockies in Scottsdale.

The outfielder struck out three times on the day, swinging in the second, and looking in the fourth and sixth.

Thursday’s game against the Dodgers will be carried on SportsTime Ohio for the first time this spring, Matt Underwood, Rick Manning and Andre Knott will be live in Goodyear for the call of the action.